


bonum nocte

by burningoceans



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Boys Kissing, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Post-The Raven King, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 17:10:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7276660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/burningoceans/pseuds/burningoceans
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
    It’s late when Adam gets to the barns, dark enough that he has to turn on the flashlight of his phone to walk the ten steps from the gravel drive to the
    front door of the house. Part of him wonders why he’s here; he has an exam in world history tomorrow and after school another shift at the warehouse until
    dark, and by all rights he should be already passed out in his narrow bed at St. Agnes.
</p>
<p>
    He can’t logically argue with that part of himself why he’s here. Perhaps it’s because another part of him can’t sleep without touching Ronan’s face first.
</p>
            </blockquote>





	bonum nocte

**Author's Note:**

> contains spoilers for The Raven King.

It’s late when Adam gets to the barns, dark enough that he has to turn on the flashlight of his phone to walk the ten steps from the gravel drive to the front door of the house. Part of him wonders why he’s here; he has an exam in world history tomorrow and after school another shift at the warehouse until dark, and by all rights he should be already passed out in his narrow bed at St. Agnes. 

He can’t logically argue with that part of himself why he’s here. Perhaps it’s because another part of him can’t sleep without touching Ronan’s face first. 

“Thanks for turning on the porch light,” he says when he walks in and sees Ronan right there, shifting away from the window as if Adam hadn’t already pieced together that he’d been watching Adam struggle in the dark. 

“Thanks for finally showing up, asshole,” Ronan retorts. He takes a moment to eye Adam up and down, eyes half-lidded. Adam smirks; he’s already pieced together too that Ronan has a thing for Adam in his coveralls. Strange dreamer lightning boy. 

“Is that Adam?” 

The tiny voice wafts down the stairs as Adam dumps his keys in a pot on a side table. He likes the way it glows when there’s something inside. 

“the puny puke wouldn’t sleep until you were there to say goodnight.” 

That explains half the reason Ronan’s acting so annoyed. Adam knows the other half is the same reason as always. 

Without a word, Adam lopes up the stairs to Declan’s room. The room is muted, lit only by a night light, gifted from blue, a hand-me-down that cast blurry colored lights on the walls. It was almost trippy, like the inside of a dream. Adam realized soon enough that maybe that’s exactly why it comforted Opal, Ronan’s peculiar but captivating dream thing. Dream girl. 

In bed, Opal’s curled up under the covers, nearly entirely hidden except for her face and her straw hair fanned out on the pillow. It’s started to grow out. Ronan thinks that means she’s growing, too. 

Her eyes are closed and her breathing even. 

“You still awake?” Adam whispers. He steps closer to fidget with her blankets, tangled around her legs. Her eyes peer open. 

“Adam.” Her hands reach for him. He lets her tug him down and sits next to her, unable to keep from brushing her hair from her face as she smiles sweetly at him. 

“Did you have a good day?” 

Opal hums and lets her eyes drift shut. “We were outside and _Kerah_ let me play with the cows.” 

“Very good.” Adam feels something expand in his chest, not quite a laugh but something close. He feels it more deeply. “You must be tired. Sleep now, darling.” 

His accent accidentally slips out, but Opal seems to like it. She rubs her cheek against his palm and sighs. 

_“Bonum nocte_ , Adam.” 

Minutes later Adam gets up, ensures his jostling doesn’t rouse her again, and leaves her with her heavy breaths and disco ball night light. He still has that feeling in his chest, but now it’s oozed out a bit, running like sweet syrup over his insides, and time slows as he finds his way back to Ronan. 

“Took you long enough,” Ronan says when Adam finds him stretched out on the sofa in front of the TV. It’s clear he wasn’t paying any particular attention to it, his body tilted away yet sprawled out comfortably. “What, were you telling her a bedtime story?” 

“Sure was,” Adam lies smoothly. “Want to hear it?” Without waiting for an answer, he goes on. “Once upon a time there was a boy. He was a dreamer. When he dreamed, he could create anything he wanted, exactly how he wanted it.” 

Ronan tilts his chin up. 

“He loved his dreams, so very much. But he got so used to them that when he had to wake up, nothing in real life could compare. And when things weren’t the way he wanted, he got very, very impatient.” 

“Fuck you, what am I impatient for?” 

“This.” 

Adam kisses him. 

The angle is awkward, as he bends at ninety degrees to reach Ronan’s lean figure on the sofa, his head sunk into three pillows. But Ronan holds him there, fingers brushing the back of Adam’s neck instantly, arching up into the kiss. That makes Adam press back all the more. The knowledge, still, that he can get someone like Ronan to react like this--it’s heady, makes his insides burn, caramelize. Before too long, he has to pull back to catch his breath. 

“I only wanted to make sure you didn’t miss your show,” Ronan says belatedly, releasing Adam and curling away into the sofa, like he’s uninterested. “Only reason you’re here, after all, isn’t it?” 

“Mmm. The only reason.” Adam glances at the TV and snatches up the remote, tossing it somewhere toward the vicinity of Ronan. “Pause it, will you? I need to piss.” 

His request is met with grumbles that don’t sound very grumbly. Adam’s insides remain gooey. 

When he gets back a minute later, his show has begun and Ronan lies on the sofa with eyes closed. The usually harsh lines of his face are soft at times like these. In some ways, that face makes him a stranger to Adam. He never knew this Ronan, before. Seeing him like this always reminds Adam how much of Ronan he has yet to uncover. 

“I asked you to pause the show, dick,” he says, flopping on to the couch roughly, half on top of Ronan’s legs. It probably wounds him more than Ronan, he realizes as he flinches and Ronan only smirks. 

“Think you’re confusing me with that other guy.” 

Adam flicks his jean-clad shin. “Smart ass.” 

In place of a smooth retort, Ronan instead peers at Adam through half-closed eyes and slides a hand onto his knee. “Darling. Quiet down and watch your show now.” 

He’s probably mocking Adam. No, he _definitely_ is. But his thumb taps Adam’s knee and his toes wiggle under his ass, and Adam doesn’t even care. Ronan can mock him all he wants, so long as he keeps Adam around, and keeps looking at him like this. 

**Author's Note:**

> come visit me on [tumblr](http://burniingoceans.tumbr.com).


End file.
